Monday, May 31, 2010

It seems to be a bit of a trend to me to write up blog entries after midnight. Perhaps this is the time I feel most inspired to write and also not be interrupted whilst in my train of thought. I have some news to share with you all. I know I don't get many comments on my blog but I do get emails from readers who follow my blog who are going through a similar situation, so I know there are readers out there! And in a way I feel as though you know me, a part of me anyway and so I'm sharing the news here with you.

The next chapter of Cupcake Central has begun. We have found our storefront and we made an offer on the premise to lease the shop and it has been officially approved by the owner today. I feel a little bit nervous, excited, numb and it all does feel a little surreal. I was a little hesitant to let people know at first because it's sort of like... for example, someone's told you that you've 'pretty much' got the job but haven't had that final confirmation yet but you want to tell the whole world so you jump the gun. Then when they get back to you and say that they've found someone more suitable you get extremely disappointed because you had your hopes up and you feel embarrassed because you have already told everyone. I didn't want that to happen to me. But it has been confirmed and the news has finally sunk in and yes, this is going to happen. My dream of owning my cupcake shop is unfolding. Holy....cupcakes!

I have had a lot of support from loved ones, friends and family over the last 9 months and I really could not have done it without them. Sounds very cliche but now I truly understand that meaning. You can put all your effort into building your dream by yourself but with the help of others, you get there a lot faster and for me, I seriously could not have achieved what I have in the past year without them. I feel very very fortunate.

Two weeks ago was a year from when I was made redundant from my IT profession. I was reflecting on that day, how much my life has changed. My life changed because I did something about it and took the risk, however much I am hard on myself for not being more proactive and being less of a procrastinator...I guess I did take that leap which took a lot of guts. Six months of uncertainty, lack of financial security and working on my own. It sure wasn't easy.

I know the next 6 to 12 months are going to be the toughest, I can already foresee the sleepless nights, the stress, Murphy's Law unraveling and many learning curves. But I can also imagine the accomplishments I will be feeling, the lessons I will be learning, the little imprint I will be making with my cupcake shop. It's going to be something different. It's not going to be an ordinary cupcake shop.

I will try to continue to keep updating my blog so I can document the next chapter of my journey. Time to sleep as I need to wake up at 6am to bake. Also one other comment is for all the aspiring bakers out there, make sure that you have a deep, real, fired up passion for baking as it will require lots of physical labour as well as early morning starts. If you don't have that passion, it will be ALL that much harder to drag your perky butt out of bed in the mornings. Just a warning.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

It's 3am and I'm restless, unable to sleep...fuelled by my excitement of what lies ahead. (Not to mention I had a very late afternoon nap which has now stuffed up my body clock) Nevertheless, I could probably fall asleep again but I'm too excited.

As some of you may already know, I love my self-help books. Sometimes I read them cover to cover and re-read them. Sometimes it takes me a little longer to get through them. Sometimes I actually apply what I've learnt, other times it excites me for a week and I forget about it. Interestingly though I think sometimes when you learn something from a book, it lies dormant inside you...waiting for the right time to jump out so you can finally understand how to use it, how to apply it, how to make it work in your life.

My boyfriend finally finished renovating his investment house so we had a huge bbq to celebrate. I decided to create a Dessert Table to give the house a bit of warmth as it was an empty house. I created a dessert table with cheesecake brownies, coconut lime truffles, passionfruit yoyo's (made by Marcelle), triple chocolate cupcakes, carrot cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes. No one wanted to touch the dessert table as they thought it looked too pretty but once someone started, the desserts disappeared quite quickly.

A couple of weeks ago I took short break to go up to Sydney for a few days. I've been so consumed with the daily duties of running a business I decided I needed some time to evaluate what I've achieved so far and what my next steps are going to be. On the trip I started reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey". It's one of those books you always see on the best sellers shelf at Borders. I've always been meaning to buy the book but never got around to it. I saw it on my friend's bedside table and asked to borrow it. It gave me a different perspective to how to keep myself motivated.

Proactivity...

I remember the very first job I had. I was a support desk person at a small company creating recruitment software. I was so enthusiastic and had a lot of free reign when it came to creating new support processes, documents and so forth. I believed that I had the ability to make a difference to the small company and the results showed. I was proactive. I did things that were not asked of me. I sought solutions to issues before they arose. I fixed things efficiently and properly so they would not occur again. Yet as the year went by I slowly lost this drive, this proactivity. Admittedly, I was still quite naive when I started at my first job and had a high level of emotional dependence. I was too soft and when I was criticised, I did not know how to handle it. It tore me down, it hurt me deep and I let it dwindle my sense of being. To this day, I still remember how the MD sat me in a room and hurt me by saying that "I had the potential to be good". I didn't understand because I had felt I had given the company so much yet didn't have the recognition I wanted so badly. I ran to the toilets and cried for 3 hours. Why it affected me so badly at the time, still puzzles me. But I resigned a week later and went to a competitor.

Notice how I scatter images throughout my post to keep non-readers partially entertained?

That fire I once had, I haven't felt for a very long time. But like a wheel in motion, it takes a little bit of effort to get it moving before you go blasting ahead, unable to stop. The motion is starting. How?

I realised that in life, we can choose to do something. I mean think about it. Do you choose to get up at 7am to go to work? Or do you have to wake up at 7am to go to work? There's a big difference!

My fear of failing is slowly fading as every day I am getting new enforcements that I am doing something right and when I do fail I just try again. So with that being said there is really nothing stopping me anymore. Everyday when I wake up, I tell myself that it's because I choose to. I choose to do what I'm doing. I choose to take risks. I choose to focus on what I can change. Far too long I have been too reactive. It takes someone with initiative to live their dreams. People don't just get lucky, you have to make it happen.

So today, my one question to you is..What do you choose to do?

If you don't feel like you are choosing to do much in your life, you can change it. Excuses such as "If only I had the time to do it" can be changed to "I can make time to do it". Blame such as "If only he was more caring towards me, we would have a better relationship" can be changed to "How can I be more patient and loving?". Even if you don't feel like taking this in today, bury it in your head so that one day it can make sense. It's one of those things that you're aware of but until you really experience it and want to understand it, it's hard to comprehend it's power.A reactive person allows the weather to affect them. A proactive one accepts the weather (rain, hail or shine) and focuses on what they can change and create within themselves.